Nektar Skin Cancer Combo Spurs More Patient Remissions Over Time

(Bloomberg) -- A treatment plan including Nektar Therapeutics' experimental therapy helped more patients with advanced skin cancer beat back their disease after more than a year of follow up.

In updated results from an early-stage study, four additional patients out of 38 were cleared of their cancer after treatment with Nektar's bempegaldesleukin in combination with Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo. Thirteen patients have now had a complete response to the drug combo compared to nine in an update last year from the “Pivot-2” study.

The number of patients who have responded to treatment remains unchanged at 20, including 16 who are still responding, according to data being presented Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting. “That's a low rate of relapse,” said Jonathan Zalevsky, Nektar's chief scientific officer.

Responses were seen even in patients whose tumors didn't express high levels of a protein known as PD-L1, which is unusual with drugs like Opdivo, said Adi Diab, lead investigator of the study.

In a note before the data were presented, SVB Leerink analyst Daina Graybosch said she was looking for at least four patients to move from partial to complete responses, although she wouldn't have been disappointed to see less conversions as “deepening could take up to four years,” as was seen with Opdivo and Merck & Co's Keytruda alone.

“We're seeing a substantial improvement over time,” Zalevsky said in a phone interview. “It's a higher response rate than what we're seeing in other melanoma therapies.”

A late-stage study testing Nektar's drug plus Opdivo compared to Opdivo alone in advanced melanoma was started in the fourth quarter. Nektar shares have slid about 60% over the past year after decreasing response rates with the combo disappointed investors at last year's cancer-drug meeting.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cristin Flanagan in New York at cflanagan1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Bissell-Linsk

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